Canterbury and Kaikoura

Below are the literary figures, literary locations and literary quotes from the Canterbury and Kaikoura region of the Aotearoa New Zealand Literary Map.

Literary Figures

Oxford
Paul Millar 1962

North Canterbury
Ruth France 1913-1968

Rangiora
Monte Holcroft 1902-1994

Christchurch
Antony Alpers 1919-1996
Tusiata Avia 1966
Edmund Bohan 1935
Alan Brunton 1946-2002
Rachel Bush 1941
James Courage 1905-1963
D'Arcy Cresswell 1896-1960
Geoff Cush 1956
Kate De Goldi 1959
Peggy Dunstan 1920
Esther Glen 1881-1940
Anthony Holcroft 1932
David Howard 1959
Keri Hulme 1947
Mike Johnson 1947
Gary Langford 1947
Owen Leeming 1930
Ngaio Marsh 1895-1982
OE Middleton 1925
John Mulgan 1911-1945
John O'Connor 1949
Gordon Ogilvie 1934
Peter Olds 1944
Emily Perkins 1970
Sarah Quigley 1967
Paddy Richardson 1950
Joan Rosier-Jones 1940
Gordon Slatter 1922
Barry Southam 1940
Mary Stanley 1919-1980
Essie Summers 1912
Penelope Todd 1958
Denys Trussell 1946
Tom Weston 1958

Lyttelton
WP Reeves 1857-1932

Banks Peninsula
Harvey McQueen 1934

Rakaia Gorge
Heretaunga Pat Baker 1920-1988
Jessie Mackay 1864-1938

Southbridge
Basil Dowling 1910-2000

Ashburton
David Elliott 1952
Annamarie Jagose 1965

Geraldine
Gary Henderson

Timaru
Allen Curnow 1911-2001
Rangi Faith 1949
John Graham 1922
Elspeth Sandys 1940
Helen Shaw 1913-1985

Fairlie
Laurence Fearnley 1963
Rachel McAlpine 1940

Kurow
AP Gaskell

Literary Locations

Christchurch
Ngaio Marsh Theatre
Dame Ngaio Marsh House
Writers Trail (plaques)

Mt Peel
Ngaio Marsh's grave

Literary Fellowships/Institutions

Christchurch
Canterbury University Writer's Fellowship

Literary Quotes

'Not I, some child, born in a marvellous year
will learn the trick of standing upright here.'
Allen Curnow 'The skeleton of the great moa in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch'.

'I was struck almost breathless by the wonderful mountain that burst on my sight. The effect was startling.
It rose towering in a massy parallelogram, disclosed from top to bottom in the cloudless sky, far above all the others No one can mistake it. If a person says he thinks he has seen Mount Cook, you may be quite sure that he has not seen it. The moment it comes into sight the exclamation is, 'That is Mount Cook!' not 'That must be Mount Cook!' There is no possibility of mistake. I do not think that any human being will ever reach its top.'
Samuel Butler A First Year in Canterbury Settlement

'Looking down, he saw the land laid before him in natural divisions. On one hand was the town, its life circumscribed by the stream and its fertile coastal strip undulating to the port hills and the sea. On the other, to the west, stretched the plain of Canterbury, a sheet of waving tussock. Beyond the plain rose the longitudinal spine of mountains, snow-capped, that strode the length of the horizon, unexplored and terrifying.'
James McNeish Mackenzie

'I do not dream of Sussex downs
or quaint old England's
quaint old towns
I think of what may yet be seen
in Johnsonville or Geraldine.'
Denis Glover 'Home Thoughts'